The Best Fuzz Pedals For Guitar: Revealed

Which pedal will take the top spot? 07-Oct-13

If we're honest, we all thought this was nailed on for the number one spot in the office when we were talking about which fuzz pedal we expected you'd vote as the best.

But so many pedals have taken the original Fuzz Face circuit and altered it, perhaps (dare we say it) improved upon it, that it's not a huge surprise which pedal lies above it in second place.

For many, the Fuzz Face is THE iconic fuzz pedal, used by THE iconic fuzz artist Jimi Hendrix. Because of Jimi, most of the world's population knows the sound of a Fuzz Face.

It's the sound of the late 60s, and paved the way for the rock explosion of the 1970s, it is an important and inextricable part of rock and roll's DNA, and with Dunlop recently producing a line of Fuzz Face minis, licensed reproductions are affordable for a decent price.

The Arbiter Fuzz Face is a well sought after pedal in this day and age, often to be found in specialist guitar stores, scratched up and looking a bit like a flying saucer from a B-movie, some people have huge personal collections of the original fuzz machine.

Using just two knobs (fuzz and volume), it certainly isn't known for flexibility, but it wasn't tough to get a great tone from the original germanium models. Later on the silicon models got a reputation as being just a little bit rough on the ears at high volumes.